Published: 22 Nov 2021
Creative Scotland is delighted to be working with organisations across Scotland, providing support through a new programme to build a skilled, inclusive, and fair creative and cultural sector.
Creative & Cultural Skills will provide expert information and guidance sessions for creative and cultural employers across Scotland. The Fair Access Sector Support programme will focus on helping a wider range of talent into the creative sector, addressing recruitment and workforce development, and strengthening the principles of fair opportunity as part of Scotland’s Fair Work Framework.
It comes at a crucial time for the sector, which was hit harder than most by COVID-19. Nearly two-thirds of jobs in museums, galleries and libraries, and almost half of the jobs in music, theatre and visual arts, were considered vulnerable at the height of the pandemic. This investment from Creative Scotland, supported by National Lottery funding, will pave the way for a more inclusive and diverse recovery and help ensure Scotland’s creative and cultural industries ‘build back fairer’.
Creating the conditions to ensure fair pay, practices, and employment opportunities is vital to the success of creative sector recovery and renewal. The Fair Access Sector Support programme is central to this work and will promote meaningful and sustainable opportunities for people to work across and progress through the sector.- Iain Munro, CEO of Creative Scotland
The programme offers practical advice and guidance on entry routes that support enhanced diversity. It provides tools for cultural employers and small businesses to work effectively towards ambitions of the Fair Work Framework. Delivered free of charge to participants between February and October 2022, the programme covers the following topics, and also offers ongoing one-to-one support to organisations:
Creative & Cultural Skills Chief Executive, Jane Ide OBE: “We are absolutely delighted that Creative Scotland is partnering with us and supporting this new programme. A thriving cultural and creative sector is vital to economic and social well-being in Scotland, and it is also a vital part of the visitor economy. In the toughest of times, our mission is to help Scotland’s globally renowned cultural sector develop the workforce it needs to thrive far into the future – removing barriers to entry, bringing in new generations of talent, and creating fair and sustainable career opportunities for those who are currently furthest from the workplace.”
Commenting on the new programme, the Chief Executive Officer of the Federation of Scottish Theatre, Fiona Sturgeon Shea, said: “Knowing how best to engage and support the widest possible pool of talent is essential to a thriving and truly inclusive cultural sector in Scotland. Our members have committed to play their part, working together to recover and rebuild in a way that is fair and representative. This new opportunity, enabled by Creative Scotland and brought to fruition by Creative & Cultural Skills, is one we greatly welcome. It will provide the essential support and guidance which theatres, opera and dance companies across the nation need to attract diverse talent through a range of work-based entry routes.”
